Diary of a Mad Scientist

I finally got around to getting a cheap Harbor Freight digital thermometer with a K Thermocouple probe, and measuring the flame temperature of my very simple, not-optimised Turk Burner. The temperature inside the flame hit 2000F before the thermometer maxed out. Strangely, on the Celcius setting, it went higher, to 1150C, where it fluctuated back and forth a few degrees like I’d expect. I don’t know that I trust a HF thermometer, but it’s relatively accurate at lower temps. No, I can’t use an IR thermometer, the cheap ones max out at about 1000F.

This is pretty good news as the temperature is an indication of how complete the combustion is, and it’s been a big subject of speculation in the biodiesel world for a while. If the vegoil/glycerine/whatever didn’t burn close to completely, there are questions about what pollutants the unit would emit.

I was really hoping that the Turk reached at least 1500F. 2000 is much better.

I’d been working for a few hours already and got so excited that I messaged a bunch of nerdy people the news about the flame temp. Then I realized that it was only 7:30 am in California and that I’d probably woken several people up. Oops.

I was burning washed/dried biodiesel. I also did a batch of FFA/biodiesel mixture from acidulating glycerine, and it hit more or less the same temperatures, assuming I trust my thermometer. The difference is that the washed biodiesel left no ash, which is to be expected, whereas the FFA/biodiesel mix left almost as much ash as I get when I burn unwashed biodiesel. I was actually doing this experiment just to look at ash production- to see if the salts from acidulation stayed in the FFA/biodiesel layer or if they sank to the glycerine/water/water-soluble contaminants layer. I had used HCl to acidulate the glycerine’s soaps, which produces non-precipitating salts in this case. I’m sure that if I used sulfuric acid, which is DANGEROUS to use by the way (boiling acid/glycerine results when you first add it), it would have had fewer salts in the oily layer, as it forms a large ‘cottage cheese’ looking layer of insoluble salts.

The fact that it hits 2000F means a few interesting things:
-that should be a high enough combustion temperature to stop worrying about acrolein emissions. While acrolein isn’t the only pollutant created by combustion, it’s one that gets brought up over and over again as a concern with vegetable oil burning or glycerine burning.

-you can’t of course actually capture all 2000F worth of energy with a heat exchanger as that was just the flame temperature itself, but the air temperature right above the flame was “only” 800C, which is plenty.

-flame color is caused by something other than incomplete combustion. The Turk makes a really bright flame on some fuels (like you need cutting goggles to look at it, which you’d never know by looking at photos of Turk Burners on the Internet, as they all look yellow due to bad photography of bright objects), and a yellower flame on others (however, it doesn’t smoke or smell during the ‘good’ part of the burn cycle, till the levels drop too low and it starts to smolder at the very end of use). I was wondering if the yellow flame was due to poor combustion or due to other colorants in the container I was using, the fuels I’m using, or something else.

-I need a smaller Turk Burner so that I can actually use reasonable heat exchanger that can keep up with the heat. Mine consumes about 1.25 gallons of biodiesel an hour. I’d be wasting most of the BTU’s if I couldn’t get a better heat exchanger.

Photos from last summer (2007) experiments with Turk Burner fuels:

If you haven’t been down to Piedmont Biofuels Co-op, but have always wanted to see what the fuss is about…

Come to Girl Mark’s Spontaneous Intern Housing Repair, Cookout, and Demolition Party, Tuesday, Aug 19th, 5:30 till late… See Tuesday Night Fuelmaking at work, introduce yourself to the production staff and volunteers, and marvel at the hive of activity that erupts every Tuesday nights at the co-op.

Directions to the Co-op:
http://biofuels.coop/coop-directions/
contact for 8/19 work party and materials donation only: alovert@b100.org
contact for directions, and other info:
regular co-op phone line: (919) 642-0172

If you’ve been there before, you won’t recognize the place. The Incubator farm is bustling, the Tami Tank cob building and former Tchotch Shop strawbale building are finally plastered and finished-out, the Grease Warming Zone building is beautifully painted in a Mardi Gras version of the Piedmont colors, and the fuelmaking process is chugging along with dozens of new volunteers every month.

Let’s take it up a notch- come help with construction prep and light demolition on the Yellow House, the home of the interns that make it all run smoothly the rest of the week.

Below’s the spammail I sent to all the local NC/Piedmont lists:

******************************

Hello everybody,

I have been volunteering all summer as intern coordinator at
Piedmont, and helping with facility upgrades at the site. Right now
we’re have a two or three week break between internships, which means
that the yellow modular home that interns Joanna and Marc lived in will
be empty. The house has a couple of problem with kitchen and bathroom
floor rot, and we have to repair it while the house is empty. Once those
repairs are complete it’s going to be a spectacular living space for our
hardworking interns.

I would desperately like some help doing demolition next week. It
will be easy and fun, and we’ll have good food, and you don’t need
construction experience. We can do it during Tuesday night fuel making,
and need a few extra people to come out for that, or I can work with you
at another time early next week. I’m also looking for donations of some
housewares, tools, and building supplies for the next internship.

The demolition will involve an tearing out two small floors made out
of mobile home particleboard, tearing out a counter and moving
appliances, taking out some carpet, and removing a sinking bathtub. We
have tools, but if you have crowbars, flat bars, hammers, sledgehammers,
and sawzalls, please bring them. We have a few respirators for the
dust, and if you have your own, please bring them. I will provide work
gloves. Bring an iPod with demolition-friendly music, I have a stereo
for us.

I will bring a small grill and we can grill up some meat and veggie
burgers. BYOB if you’d like.

If you have not been out to Tuesday night fuel making in a while, the
co-op is looking spectacular, thanks to the efforts of volunteers and
the summers interns in the past 10 weeks. Since we get a lot of our
income through Sunday tours, your work on beautifying and finishing
projects in our physical campus has been extremely valuable in addition
to looking good and improving morale for interns, volunteers, and staff.

Partial list of work that you volunteer worker-members have done
this summer: The co-op main building, the grease warming zone, and
the outbuildings are all freshly painted, limewashed, finished, and
otherwise beautified. The screen porch at the White house/reactor
building is now finally screened in, which means that interns and staff
have been making full use of it during the hot summer. And, fuelmaking
has been working smoothly with many new volunteers getting trained and
learning the ropes.

All of this is really worth seeing in person if you have not been
here for awhile, so come on out the next chance you get. I would like
to keep up the momentum by turning some attention to the Yellow House.
The Yellow House is the intern housing next door, which is owned by
Abundance Foundation and eventually will belong to the co-op. We have
been formalizing the internship program, and that requires providing
quality housing and a good ‘room and board’ plan for interns.

Here are a few things that I would like for next fall’s internship, and
especially for next weeks demolition:

- help this Tuesday night, starting at 5:30 (or earlier- email me). Come
next door to the yellow house that is to the east of the co-op main
building. You can pull into the driveway from the road to get to the
front of the house and park there.
- help with remaining demolition at any other time between Monday
morning and Thursday night, of next week. Email me first- if you have a
day off and would like to come shoot the breeze about biodiesel and
demolish some bad stuff.
- some roofing materials (email me for info on what we need)
- any useful lumber over 5′ long, we have many projects coming up that
need supplies like this
- plywood or floor or roof decking materials
- small roll of floor covering for replacing the kitchen linoleum

I’m also looking for donations of some housewares for future interns
housing/"room and board": We provide furnishings for them, and I would
like to outfit the interns’ kitchen better. Does anyone have, laying
around in an attic somewhere:

- a cast iron pan or two
- a couple of medium and large size cooking pots
- small microwave
- blender (for food, not biodiesel)
- desk lamps
- shelving/utility shelves or bookshelves. Please contact me before
bringing shelving as we have specific needs for that.

Big stuff I’m looking for, for the co-op and internship:

- small refrigerator (we’re looking for two- a small “counter” (like
dorm type) fridge because staff don’t have their own kitchen, and a
narrow kitchen one to replace one that’s failing at the White)
- metal folding chairs for future classes at the co-op- Matt’s teaching
classes in the next few months and we need about 15 more folding chairs
of our own so we can stop borrowing/renting
- For the main building’s yard area: picnic table, functional outdoor
table/lawnchairs set, or “park” bench. We don’t have much outdoor
seating on campus. I’d like to have more workparties/barbeque type
workday events in the future.
- working dishwasher for the lab we’re putting in at the Reactor Room,
for glassware and sample jars
- old InSinkErator type sink garbage disposal, for chopping up food
scraps for a compost project this fall
- hand tools or power tools you’d like to donate to the co-op, that can
be used by the interns (and volunteers) during future semesters. We
especially need a socket set and combination wrenches, copper pipe
soldering gear or other plumbing tools, and a jigsaw.
- while I’m making a (maybe unrealistic) wish list, how about a propane
barbeque (it doesn’t have to work, I can fix it, it’s also for volunteer
event/workparties) or a working electric lawnmower…

Email me if you have anything like this to donate, or would like to work
with me on the demolition at a time other than Tuesday Fuelmaking night.

Thank you in advance for any of this and your help!

girl Mark “formerly a carpenter, now a gimp’ Alovert
Co-op Intern Co-ordinator
alovert@b100.org

Biodiesel Production Classes

Biodiesel Essentials: Sept 18-19, 10-5 pm

Advanced Topics in Biodiesel Production: Sept 20-21, 10-5 pm. (Must have prior experience or attend the Essentials class first)

Riverhead, NY (location will be emailed to registered participants)
early bird registration before 8/16 $108 per class
After 8/16: $120 per class

www.girlmark.com/tour

This class is also offered in Florida and elsewhere this fall. see website for updates.

Biodiesel is a clean-burning diesel alternative made from any natural oil or fat. It can be made easily in a backyard or garage environment. We are offering two classes at a home in Riverhead, LI, covering beginning or advanced topics, on September 18-19 or 21-22.

The Biodiesel Essentials class is a comprehensive, hands-on workshop that teaches you everything you need to know to make high quality biodiesel, use your system more efficiently, and make informed decisions about shortcuts. This class is geared to both beginning and more advanced students and we encourage discussion of questions you may have, as appropriate.

There are extensive hands-on ‘lab’ portions in the class during which you will get individual attention to make sure you understand the process fully and can do the techniques on your own at home. We will run a full-sized system but also do ‘lab’-scale batches so that you really learn the underlying concepts and techniques, and we will make some ‘engineered failures’ so you learn what not to do and what causes it.

The Advanced Topics class covers many more techniques beyond basic production, and will be more discussion-based, with some experienced regional homebrewers and farm-scale biodiesel producers attending, who will share their experience (if you have experience in biodiesel, please bring a short presentation about your system, or photos to share). There will be some hands-on lab work in the Advanced Topics class as well (soap testing and water/glycerine neutralization, ethanol-based biodiesel production techniques, and acid-base two-stage biodiesel will all be done as a lab exercise). Advanced Topics will also cover regulatory issues with small-scale production, composting or boiler fuel use of glycerine and advanced treatment of spent wash water, taxes, and more.

To attend the weekend Advanced Topics class, you must have prior experience making biodiesel, or attend the Thur-Fri Essentials class first.

Location:

We are meeting in a private home a few miles from Riverhead, NY, with many ‘green building’ and recycled building materials technologies on display (photo below is from last winter’s Biodiesel Essentials class). The address will be emailed out to registered participants two weeks before the class. We can help arrange transportation from LIRR in advance.

There is a working, functional homebrewing system on a trailer that we will operate during the Essentials class.

Some topics covered in the Biodiesel Essentials class:
biodiesel/SVO/solvent thinning (ie DSE etc) options and history
biodiesel chemistry
testing oil (titration and water testing)
removing water from oil
making test batches
an overview of equipment
Equipment build- help build a reactor at the end of Sunday’s class
quality control factors
quality testing
mistwashing and other water washing options
breaking emulsion
two-stage base biodiesel
waste water and glycerine treatment and disposal
reuse
waterless soap removal with Amberlite and GL’s process
common pitfalls
hands-on experience recovering from failed batches and emulsion
special considerations for biodiesel made with ethanol instead of methanol
safety

The Advanced Topics class covers topics that include:

Quality control
analysis of real-world problems with offspec biodiesel
“ASTM testing” for those considering commercial production
gas chromatography versus other options for testing for conversion
acid-base biodiesel process
advanced topics in dewatering of oil
using glycerine in your process for various benefits
testing for soap
methanol recovery and equipment design
testing recovered methanol for purity
zeolite and other methods for improving methanol purity
issues to avoid when “waterless washing” with ion exchange resin
acid-base chemistry and safety
testing for residual soap
acidulation of soap in glycerine, special equipment considerations
Recapturing oils or biodiesel trapped in glycerine or wash water
dealing with high-water-content oils
Graham Laming-type vapor control system
spill-proofing your system
regulatory issues
taxes
larger-scale equipment design (for co-ops or small farms)
treating wash water and glycerine for disposal or other uses
commercial tests for wash water- BOD, COD, FOG, etc
real-world test results related to biodegradability/safety of sidestream disposal
burning glycerine safely for energy
hydronic/solar applications for biodiesel and wash water heating
disaster prevention scenarios exercises for larger-scale processor systems
discussion of regulatory topics for non-commercial producers larger than homebrew
solar heating options
very through discussion/demonstration of several different options in washing, including drawbacks and advantages
greywater systems for wash water recycling

About the instructor:

Maria ‘girl Mark’ Alovert is a biodiesel production technology consultant based in North Carolina. She is the author of The Biodiesel Homebrew Guide, a manual on biodiesel production, the founder of the community-written biodiesel homebrewing tutorial site www.biodieselcommunity.org and the inventor of the Appleseed Processor, an ‘open source’ design now used by thousands of people around the world to produce biodiesel on a ‘homebrew’ scale. She has been involved in home-scale biodiesel technology development since 2000. She is currently the internship coordinator at Piedmont Biofuels and a research partner with Blue Ridge Biofuels in North Carolina, where she studies practical techniques for working with high-FFA ‘difficult’ oils for “open-source” publication.

It is strongly recommended that you read this website first: http://www.biodieselcommunity.org to get a background for this subject.

To register for the class:

see www.girlmark.com/tour

Here’s an awesome blog entry written by a recent visitor to one of the Piedmont Industrial tours, with great photos of the amazing eco-industrial park that Piedmont has built at their Industrial facility:

http://blog.lawsonforcongress.com/2008/08/12/a-snapshot-of-sustainability/#comment-4578

(edit as of 8/14: The Biofuels.coop blog aggregator is broken and no one’s blogs are updating. If you’re seeing this post through the aggregator, just click on the title of the blog itself (ie Diary of a Mad Scientist) rather than the post, and it’ll take you to the most recent entry).

I’m doing really badly health-wise, worse and for longer than I’d been sick since last March or so. It’s hit me in several new ways- I can’t breathe- a symptom called ‘air hunger’ that could be a symptom of a coinfection with some other pathogen, or could be caused by other things, and a weird form of anorexia. I’m going around gasping for breath all day long, in addition to all my other nasty symptoms. My appetite disappeared about three months ago and I’m losing a lot of weight because nothing feels edible (and I’ve been off antibiotics for a few weeks, so I don’t think it’s due to antibiotic side effects). So, now I can’t breathe and I can’t eat, I think that means I’m halfway to dead, and I kinda look like death warmed over much of the time. Graydon Blair saw me at the Colorado biodiesel conference and was quite horrified at the change in my appearance in the past two years. Damn.

But- I’m so ecstatic about how everything else is going. It’s a really odd combination- usually if I’m sick, I’m also emotionally miserable. These days everything else is so good that it sort of doesn’t matter that I can’t breathe normally, I can’t exercise, I can’t eat, I don’t care about food (which is REALLY odd for me), I only have 6 hours a day when I can function half-normally, I’m bumping into things and clumsy, my memory is fucked up, I can’t get up in the morning without major help, etc. Yuck.

I just got offered a job doing a research project on high-FFA oils, which is a subject I’ve been pursuing for the last few weeks anyway and did quite a bit of work with in the past. The results of the project are going to be “open-source". Just by coincidence, right before the job offer came, I hit on a couple of new methods for working with high-FFA and high-water oils (I reported at my advanced topics talk at the Colorado conference, and at the recent Advanced Topics class in Pittsboro, about the ‘Base-Ackwards Method’, will soon write up some more about it as i learn more). Trap grease, bite my ass. You are nothing to me. I’m esterifying some ethanol-based biodiesel right now, with OK results as well. I’m thinking of going bioprospecting for algae at the local ponds as I think I may have a solution to some of the algae oil extraction issues as well. Also right before the job offer appeared, I got an email out of the blue that said that the renovation of my gas chromatograph, which was on hold pending a $1500 part that I didn’t want to pay full price for, has been finished by the college that hosted it- someone pulled a $1500 motherboard out of thin air apparently and even installed it for me. So I now have my own GC to do the research with.

It’s just an ecstatic time.